Statement of the Center for Women Policy Studies

The Center for Women Policy Studies offers the following comments to the Subcommittee on Human Resources in preparation for reauthorization of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, established by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. 

The Center for Women Policy Studies is a multiethnic and multicultural feminist policy research, analysis and advocacy organization which brings women’s diverse voices to important public policy debates – on women and AIDS, violence against women and girls, welfare reform, access to health care, educational equity, employers’ work/family and workplace diversity policies, reproductive rights and health, and many other critical issues. 

The Center for Women Policy Studies urges Congress to pass a reauthorized TANF that focuses on poverty reduction as its long term goal.   While we agree that employment is the key to achieving economic independence, we believe that a short-sighted focus on low wage and insecure “work” at all costs cannot “end welfare as we know it” or lift low income families out of poverty.  Indeed, as many leavers’ studies demonstrate, TANF recipients who leave the rolls for low-wage, dead end jobs remain mired in poverty and often return to public assistance (National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support, 2001).  In contrast, programs for welfare recipients which allow both education and work activities have generated positive outcomes ( Holzer and Wissoker, 2001; Greenberg, Strawn and Plimpton, 2000).  However, it is essential that these education activities are not limited to on-the-job training or short stints of vocational education.  The Center particularly urges Congress to follow the lead of several states and ensure that the reauthorized TANF statute explicitly allows states to provide access to postsecondary education for women TANF recipients.

The Center has examined the role of postsecondary education in helping low income women lift themselves out of poverty since 1988.   We look forward to working with the Subcommittee on Human Resources on TANF reauthorization and will be pleased to share with the Committee the research and policy analyses that the Center, our colleagues in other research institutions, and the state legislators with whom we work nationwide have conducted. 

In the United States, education has always been a route to economic self-sufficiency and social mobility, as demonstrated by the long term success of the GI Bill, for example. Every president for the last 20 years has stressed the importance of education for everyone in America.  Education cannot stop at high school because, in the 21st century, at least one year of postsecondary education is essential for all workers.  And yet, TANF does not extend our nation’s commitment to educational opportunity to women who are living in poverty with their children.  However, many women on welfare are ready, willing, and able to benefit from postsecondary education; indeed, 53 percent of women AFDC recipients in the years preceding TANF were high school graduates or had earned GEDs (Center for Women Policy Studies, 1998).

Data from several studies have demonstrated that the additional earning capacity that a postsecondary education provides can make the difference between economic self-sufficiency and continued poverty for many women TANF recipients.  Among families headed by African-American women, the poverty rate declines from 51 percent to 21 percent with at least one year of postsecondary education.  Among families headed by Latinas, the poverty rate declines from 41 percent to 18.5 percent with at least one year of postsecondary education.  And among families headed by white women, the poverty rate declines from 22 percent to 13 percent with at least one year of postsecondary education (Center for Women Policy Studies, 1998).

Studies in several states have found that postsecondary education not only increases women’s income, it also raises their self esteem, increases their children’s educational ambitions, and has a dramatic impact on their quality of life.  Further, the children of these newly educated mothers are more likely to take education seriously and aspire to go to college themselves (Center for Women Policy Studies, 1998). 

Now, more than ever, TANF recipients need postsecondary education to obtain the knowledge and skills required to compete for jobs that pay a living wage, provide health and other benefits, and enable women to lift themselves and their children out of poverty in the long term.  Without some postsecondary education, most women who leave welfare for work will earn wages far below the federal poverty line, even after five years of working.   But allowing TANF recipients to attend college, even for a short time, will improve their earning potential significantly.  In fact, the average person who attends a community college – even if she/he does not complete an associate’s degree -- earns about 10 percent more than her/his counterparts who do not have any college education (Center for Women Policy Studies, 1998).

Moreover, women who receive assistance clearly appreciate the importance of postsecondary education in their struggle to improve their lives and their children’s lives.  The Center’s recent qualitative research with women TANF recipients from the Washington, DC metropolitan area demonstrates their ambition and commitment to hard work.  Study participants were eager to leave TANF as quickly as possible --- but they also wanted to leave poverty and create a stable lifetime career.  They understood that a college education was the most important strategy to move them from welfare to economic self-sufficiency.  One participant clarified this mission and reflected what several others said:   "I’ve got to go to college so I can get this degree, so I can get off of TANF, so I can provide for my family and get a decent job to provide for my children.”  (Wolfe and Tucker, 2001).

The Center for Women Policy Studies strongly urges Congress to respond to the leadership shown by many states by ensuring that the reauthorized TANF program includes postsecondary education in the list of allowable work activities.  In addition, for TANF recipients enrolled in a postsecondary education program, both their participation in a campus work study program and a reasonable amount of study time should be classified as work activities.   Finally, federal law should allow states to extend TANF recipients’ time limits if they are participating in a postsecondary education program; states should be able to “stop the clock” for TANF recipients to ensure that they do not have their assistance withdrawn before they can achieve the long-term economic security that postsecondary education can provide and that welfare reform should encourage. 

Despite the TANF program’s overwhelming focus on immediate work participation and decreasing welfare caseloads as indicators of success, many states have attempted to support women’s efforts to achieve long-term economic independence through pursuit of a postsecondary education.  Congress must not take away from states the flexibility to provide the most opportunity to their citizens.

In our recent study of states and postsecondary education, we found that, of the  32 states whose efforts we reviewed in depth,  29 states allowed postsecondary education either alone or in combination with work, to be considered as an allowable TANF work activity.  Several states have amended their state welfare laws to specifically allow postsecondary education as an allowable work activity under TANF (California, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, and Ohio, for example).  Other states have created separate state programs using their Maintenance of Effort (MOE) funds to allow TANF recipients to engage in postsecondary education without the limitations of the federally mandated work and time limit requirements (Maine, Texas, and Wyoming, for example).  Others encouraged a combination of postsecondary education and allowable work activities (including Delaware, New Jersey, and Wyoming, for instance) or operated under a federal waiver to allow college to count as an allowable work activity (Ohio, Texas, and Vermont) (Center for Women Policy Studies, 1999; forthcoming, 2002). 

Such state programs as the Maine “Parents As Scholars”  (PAS) program have served as models for other states to emulate.  Parents As Scholars allows eligible low-income Maine residents to receive cash benefits and supportive services if they are enrolled in an undergraduate two or four-year college degree program.  The amount received from the Parents as Scholars program is equivalent to the amount the recipient would have received under TANF.  Recipients must be pursuing a postsecondary educational program designed to lead to employment which will significantly improve their ability to become self-supporting.  Several other states, including Texas, New Hampshire and Washington, have developed or are seeking to develop programs modeled on the PAS program.

A recent study conducted on behalf of the Alliance for Family Success details the positive outcomes of PAS scholars.  The study found that PAS graduates increased their wages by nearly 50%, compared to TANF recipients who left TANF without obtaining postsecondary education.  In addition, they are more likely to find jobs with good benefits.  PAS participants generally perform very well in college.  Moreover, obtaining a college education improves self esteem and provides a sense of accomplishment.  Finally, the benefits of participation in the Maine PAS program extended to the families of participants.  Their children raised their aspirations, and attended college like their mothers.  (Smith, Deprez, and Butler, 2002)

The Center for Women Policy Studies applauds the leadership of these states and strongly urges Congress to include postsecondary education as an allowable work activity in the reauthorized TANF.  

References

Center for Women Policy Studies.  1998.  Getting Smart About Welfare:  Postsecondary Education is the Most Effective Strategy for Self-Sufficiency for Low Income Women.  Washington, DC.

Center for Women Policy Studies.  1999.  Getting Smart About Welfare: State Legislators Action Kit.  Washington, DC.

Greenberg, M,  Strawn, J. & Plimpton, L.,   2000  State Opportunities to Provide Access to Postsecondary Education Under TANF.  Washington, DC: Center for Law and Social Policy.

Holzer, Harry & Wissoker, Douglas. 2001   How Can We Encourage Job Retention and Advancement for Welfare Recipients?  Urban Institute Series, “New Federalism: Issues and Options for States.”

National Campaign for Jobs and Income Support. 2001. Leaving Welfare, Left Behind:

Employment Status, Income, and Well-Being of Former TANF Recipients. Washington, DC.

Smith, R., Deprez, L. & Butler, S.  2002.  Parents As Scholars: Education

Works,   Alliance for Family Success.

Wolfe, L.R. & Tucker, J.  2002,  “Clipping Our Wings”:  The Impact of Welfare Reform on the College Aspirations of Low Income Women.  Washington, DC:  Center for Women Policy Studies.